Levitation
by BurnThoseEyesBlue
Summary: When Kanan, albeit hesitantly, had finally offered Ezra the chance to finally get out of his blasted cell, he jumped at the chance. But now, sitting here awkwardly amongst his former crew - his former family - he was cursing himself for being so stupid. (Winter Soldier AU)
**Hi, everyone! This is my first SWR fic, so I'd appreciate any reviews/criticism from you guys! It is a Marvel Winter Soldier AU, with Ezra as the Winter Soldier. I got the idea from fizzygingr over on Tumblr and her other Dawn & Soldier!Ezra fic in her loose "Winter Blueberry" collection. Go check them out! It might make sense if you read some of those, first. They're on A03! **

**This also has Dawn in it - the non-canon daughter of Kanan & Hera - for those of you who don't know who she is. I tagged her as an OC, even though some people on Tumblr came up with her idea. I don't own Dawn, or any of the other Rebels characters. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The door swung open with a hiss. Ezra narrowed his eyes; he didn't need to turn around from his meditation to know that it was Kanan. His force signature hadn't changed a bit. The Light Side from his force signature was almost blinding.

Kanan waited a moment for Ezra to turn around. When that didn't happen, he sighed.

"Ezra," he said. Ezra opened his eyes, but didn't turn around. "Soldier?" Kanan tried. Ezra flinched.

"Can I help you with something, Kanan?" Ezra said, trying to cover how rattled he was.

Kanan knew he struck a nerve. "I just wanted to check on you. See how you were doing."

That made Ezra turn around. "You've never done that before," he said. "What do you really want?" He narrowed his eyes.

Kanan rubbed a hand on the back of his head awkwardly. "How would you like to get out of the room for a little bit?"

'You mean the cell?" Kanan frowned at that, and Ezra smirked inwardly. He leaned back and tilted his head to one side. "I'm listening."

"Ezra, the crew wants to see you. They miss you." Ezra remained silent for a moment. He jingled the chains in silent agreement to go, and Kanan walked over to unlock them. He reattached the portable binders, and when Ezra hissed, promised that they would only be temporary, or at least until they saw how this little... reunion went.

Kanan led Ezra out of the room and down the halls like he was still a prisoner (which, granted, he was) and like he had never been inside the Ghost before (which, although Ezra hadn't been on it in years, he still knew like the back of his hand - the dreams of running down the halls were the only thing that kept Ezra somewhat sane in the past years). Kanan kept a firm hand on his shoulder, a silent warning of what would happen for if Ezra decided to bolt, and Ezra gritted his teeth and fought the urge to throw it off.

Kanan led him into the kitchen and awkwardly pushed him towards a lone chair up against the far wall. He settled himself against the doorway.

Ezra spared himself a quick glance around. "Where's your crew?"

Kanan tried not to flinch at 'your crew.' "They'll be around."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the tension in the air was so thick you couldn't cut it with a lightsaber.

The rest of the Ghost crew has trickled in. First Zeb, who gave him a small smile, then Hera, Chopper, who Ezra assumed beeped some choice words at him, and lastly Sabine, who still refused to look at him at all.

Ezra hadn't looked up once.

Every now and then Hera would try to start up the conversation, but it quickly fizzled out, because what exactly do you talk about with an ex-assassin for a murderous Empire? His assignments? His targets? How about how he was supposed to kill all of them just weeks ago?

"This was a waste of time," Ezra growled. "Can't you just lock me up again?" He shook his binders in Kanan's direction.

Kanan sighed. "I'm sorry, Ezra. We'll try again later." Ezra stood up, and Kanan put a hand on his shoulder to lead him back.

"Lead on, Master," Ezra jeered. He ignored the twinge of guilt that rocked him as Kanan frowned from underneath his blindfold. To Ezra, Kanan had never looked older.

"Aunt Bean, look at this!" The same little girl Ezra met weeks earlier came tumbling in and knocked into his legs, sending him staggering back. Kanan steadied him, and Ezra jerked his shoulder away and turned towards the girl. She was dragging a stuffed loth-cat and a crumpled piece of paper. She ran up to Sabine and brandished her paper proudly. "Look what I drew! I'm gonna be an artist when I grow up, just like you!"

Ezra felt his flash of annoyance rocket through the Force, and the little girl turned towards him with wide eyes. He felt curiosity wave back towards him, and his annoyance turned to shock.

"We were wondering how long it would take you to sense her," Kanan said. "You were kind of, ah, out of it, last time you met."

Dawn, completely losing interest in her drawing, skipped over in front of Ezra and held out her hand. "Hi! I'm Dawn Syndulla-Jarrus! Nice to meet you! What's your name?"

Ezra stared down at her open hand and remained quiet. He shifted his feet, and his binders jingled. Dawn's mouth fell into a silent 'o' and she slowly lowered her. She cuddled her loth-cat to her chest for a second before showing him to Ezra.

"This is Zeb. Well, it's not actually Zeb, but he's soft like him!" The real Zeb snorted in the background, and when Ezra glanced over, he was practically glowing with pride looking at the little twi'lek.

"He looks... soft." Ezra said, his voice cracking at the end. The fuzzy memory of someone playing with a wailing Ithorian infant pushed to the forefront of his mind, and he shook his head to clear it.

Dawn stroked her hand over the fur lovingly. "You wanna feel?" She stood on her tippy toes and tried to reach up, and when she couldn't, got a funny gleam in her eyes.

Immediately, Ezra swallowed a mouthful of fur as the loth-cat flew in his face. Kanan tensed up and pulled Ezra back away from Dawn, and Sabine stepped in front of her to protect her. Ezra coughed out the toy and looked down at the little girl.

She giggled sheepishly. "Dad says I still have to work on my le-vee-tation skills."

When Kanan sensed that Ezra wasn't going to freak out, he relaxed and stepped back. Sabine, however, stayed parked in front of Dawn, until Kanan cleared his throat in warning. She huffed and stepped back, but was still within reach to snatch Dawn away at any given moment.

Ezra looked at the little loth-cat on the floor. "You know, I think I can do that, too." He moved the binders so one hand was pointed toward the toy and stretched his fingers towards it. The little cat floated up in the air towards Dawn, and when she reached out to grab it, swung back. Ezra circled it around her, and Dawn giggled as she twirled around in circles to catch it.

When she finally grabbed it, and spun around dizzily and collapsed on the floor. She looked up at Ezra, beaming, and yawned. Immediately, Hera jumped into action and scooped her up into her arms.

"Isn't it past your bedtime, anyway, little one?" Hera said, looking down at her daughter with one eyebrow raised.

"No," Dawn protested, snuggling into her mother's shoulder. "Well, maybe. I just wanted to see what everyone was doing? You finally let him out and I wanted to see!" Dawn pointed in Ezra's direction. "He's nice. I like him. I think he's a good guy, like you said. Not bad."

"That's enough, Dawn," Kanan stepped up and walked over. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and waved her off. "Time for you to say goodnight now."

Hera gave a final smile at Ezra and walked out, with Dawn peeping over her shoulder and waving. Ezra lifted his binders up in the air and wiggled his fingers slowly in return. Hera turned the corner, and they both disappeared from sight.

"I guess it's time for you to go back, too, Ezra." Kanan said. Zeb tilted his head in acknowledgment as they walked out, and Sabine looked at Ezra with a strange look on her face.

As Kanan and Ezra left the room, Ezra could hear Sabine whisper something muffled to Zeb. "Maybe our Ezra isn't completely gone."

Zeb's response was lost as they turned the corner.

Kanan didn't say a word for the rest of the walk, and when Ezra glanced over at him, his brow was furrowed in thought.

When they finally got to Ezra's room (cell), Ezra glowered at the chains and went to go get in position to be locked up again. When Kanan didn't follow him, he turned back around.

Kanan waved his hand, and the binders opened and fell to the ground. Ezra stared down at his hands in shock and stretched his wrists. He looked up at Kanan with surprise.

Kanan waved a hand in his general direction. "Today was good, Ezra. Really good. I don't think you need to wear those anymore." He turned to walk out the doorway.

Ezra blinked in response. "Thank you," he whispered.

Kanan paused in the door frame. He turned his head to the side. "You said earlier that this was a waste of time. Still think that?" He turned and walked back out. The door shut behind him and locked automatically with a sharp click.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Ghost, Dawn snuggled deeper into her blankets. She was almost asleep when she felt something being sent to her through the force. She sat up, and the warm feeling of gratitude washed over her. Funny, it had the same force signature as the yellow-eyed man from earlier.

Dawn shrugged. There was no need to thank her.

She guessed that he didn't know her parents were already going to unlock his binders in his room, anyway.

* * *

 **This was written slightly before Civil War came out, which explains the slight differences between my idea of how the Winter Soldier would act versus how Bucky acted in them movie. R &R! **


End file.
